Lately... (a bit of this and that)

Lately we've been in a very busy season of life.  Swimming lessons, soccer, piano lessons, speech therapy, church commitments - it all starts adding up.  Thankfully everything is winding down now in the next few weeks, and I'm really looking forward to taking a break over the summer.

On Friday was the kids' last swimming lesson.  Neither of them passed their level, but that's okay because that's what I was expecting (it was the first time for both of them in their levels).  Plus, I had registered them for these same levels for summer lessons (1 week, 45 minutes each day), so I was actually glad neither of them passed because then I'd have to try to re-register them in a different level.  They both did really well though, and I was very proud of how hard they worked.  This was Emmett's first time doing "real" swimming lessons (without a parent in the water) and aside from a few tears on the first day, he really enjoyed it.

Yesterday Annika really got the hang of riding her bike with two wheels.  We'd been practicing for a week, but it wasn't until yesterday that it really "clicked."  She still has a few issues with steering and stopping (and starting on her own), but she's pretty much got it figured out.  Very proud of her, since it wasn't that long ago (just after we bought her new bike) that she was quite scared of riding it, even with the training wheels on. 

Father's Day this morning.  We had a pretty low-key day, as we had celebrated with my family on Friday night and with Carey's family yesterday.

Last week in church the children's feature was about Psalm 23 (as was the sermon) and it was generously promised to the kids that if they could memorize all of Psalm 23, they would receive $5.  Annika worked very hard all week, and she was so excited to receive her $5 this morning.  I was quite impressed with how quickly she was able to memorize it all (I typed it out and added a few pictures to help with word associations), so now we need to find something to work on next.  It was good practice for me too - it's been a long time since I've memorized Bible verses and even the ones I learned as a kid (like Psalm 23) have gotten a bit foggy.  It's definitely something I want us to keep doing as a family.

Making an impact

I co-teach the preschool Sunday School class at our church.  It's a group of 5 kids, ages 2-4 (including Emmett).  I enjoy doing it, but sometimes I feel more like a babysitter than a teacher.  Like the majority of my job is just to dole out the play-doh and the snack and make sure nobody gets poked in the eye or anything.  Today was one of the harder mornings, as the kids were having a hard time listening, and it seemed like everything I said was just being lost in the noise.  However, this evening Emmett said something that really encouraged me. In the middle of eating supper he pipes up, unprompted and completely out of nowhere, "Jesus is the Son of God" - which was our memory verse for the morning.  It made me smile, and believe that God is still working through me, even on those hard mornings.

Lights

This morning in church my parents did the advent reading and the kids helped lighting the candles (and they didn't burn the church down!).

Then this evening we continued our tradition of going to see the Winter Wonderland lights display.  We've gone every year since Emmett was born, and the kids love it.  Annika's favorite part was the hearts, and Emmett liked the train.  I liked the mini-donuts. ;)

Sunday school Christmas program

Yesterday evening was the Christmas program at our church.  Before going, I wanted the kids to pose by their little tree for some pictures in their Christmas outfits.  And this happened...

 So we tried it by the tree and the Little People nativity set.  Much better.

Annika was very excited that she got to be an angel this year.  She had one line that she said with the other angels ("glory to God in the highest...").

I didn't get any pictures of Emmett and his class because I was up on stage with them (I'm one of the teachers for his class).  The kids did really well though.

I did get one shot of them both on stage.  This was them doing the songs they learned in "children's church" (Emmett just stood there, but I don't really care - there are a lot worse things he could've been doing!).

It was a good program, and I'm glad that the kids get the opportunity to tell the true Christmas story, especially now as Annika is in public school and just has a "winter" concert.  Now two programs done and one more to go.  Emmett has his preschool program on Wednesday.

Pie

I made my first lemon meringue pie today for our church Thanksgiving supper (and I use the term "made" pretty loosely - I used a frozen pie shell and a mix for the filling). Annika (my sour-lovin' girl) declared it a success!

Thankful

Today in Sunday School I had the kids make "thankful" collages. I cut out a ton of pictures beforehand (after learning last week that 7 preschoolers with scissors is a bad idea) and they chose what they wanted on their collage and glued it on. Here is Emmett's (apparently he's very thankful for drills and trains). :)

"Teacher, teacher...."

I made my debut this morning as nursery Sunday School teacher (I've never taught Sunday School before). The kids are 2-4 years old, and there are 7 in the class (Emmett is one of them). It was busy, but overall I think it went well. I excelled at play-doh and snack, and I even managed the flannel board (which is trickier than it looks). ;)

Annika's Bible

Our church has a tradition of presenting kindergarten students with a Bible, and Annika received hers this morning. I was so proud of her, going up in stage all by herself!  She can't read it on her own yet, but she was completely fascinated with it today - leafing through the pages, looking at the pictures, "studying" the maps.  My goal is to find a good family devotional book, so we can help her put her Bible to good use.

On the flip side, my own Bible has been gathering dust lately. To be honest, I probably haven't brought it to church since before Annika was born. With having so much kid-related stuff to carry around (and the convenience of often having the Scriptures displayed on the overhead screen), it was one thing that got left behind. These days I do a lot of my Bible reading on my phone or the iPad, on our Bible app. It's convenient, but not quite the same. And when I pull out my phone in church to look up a passage, I want to announce to everyone "I'm not checking Facebook - I'm really following along!!  I'm listening!!!"